The following is from SaveOurHornets.com, the official website of the Save Our Hornets Foundation:
Every empty seat that we see in the Arena is a seat that could be filled with a smiling youngster. Through increased positive exposure to basketball at a young age, these fans will have a higher likelihood of attending games later in life, buying season tickets, playing for, managing, or even owning the Hornets. We seek to enable our youth, and by extension our community, to support the team which so many of us love- The New Orleans Hornets.
The Save Our Hornets Foundation was officially founded as a charitable non-profit on 12/9/2010, just days after the NBA announced it was purchasing the New Orleans Hornets. Although the league claims to be working to keep the team in Louisiana, fans and media alike are right to be skeptical about how dedicated they are to achieving that goal.
There are a number of ways that this could play out, and one of them is with the fans not meeting the attendance requirement, and the team being allowed to opt out of it’s lease after this season. That’s not acceptable to us. We will not go quietly into the night. We will not let go without a fight.
The way this will end is with the New Orleans people doing what needs to be done to beat the attendance minimum. Those numbers on the side of the screen will keep you posted as to how we are doing in relation to how we need to be doing.
About Us
The Save Our Hornets Foundation is a charitable organization focused on keeping professional basketball in New Orleans, and increasing it’s exposure to the local population. It was founded in an effort to convince potential investors and the NBA to make a longstanding commitment to New Orleans.
Save Our Hornets has three main goals:
1. Increase the Hornets local fan base, starting with the youngest of residents.
2. Provide an opportunity to experience professional basketball games for those who otherwise may not be able to.
3. Increase nightly attendance at Hornets games in order to show the NBA, any potential investor, and the rest of the country, that New Orleans is a viable NBA market.
Through your donation we can purchase tickets and transportation for underprivileged local youths from the New Orleans area, so that they too may experience a Hornets game. This allows us to achieve all of our goals, and consequently will help keep the Hornets in New Orleans.
54 responses to “Introducing The Save Our Hornets Foundation”
Huzzah!
I’ll give whatever i can I PROMISE
Same here. The last thing I want is to live in New Orleans and not have my favorite basketball team to cheer for.
Is there a website or something?
http://www.SaveourHornets.com. Tell Everyone!!
Let’s get the entire community involved! Individuals, businesses, celebs.
Just like Hornets247.com, this foundation is just as much each and every one of yours as it is anyone else’s- tell anyone and everyone and lets show we all care!
If you are in the area and can’t contribute as much as you would like financially, then talk to us and let us know other ways you can be involved. We need advocates, photographers, people to spread the word at games, people who work in schools with underprivledged youth, and so much more.
I know that Joe has had several sleepless nights already trying to put this whole thing together- now it’s time to support him and support our Hornets!
Like 42 said below, I’m on board and i’m not even on the same continent. So for all of you that are in New Orleans give a hand and help not just the Hornets but the entire community.
This is all about a reflection on the city of New Orleans. People outside of Louisiana are past the whole “let’s help out New Orleans.” It’s time to stand up for yourselves and the entire state and take pride in having two professional sports teams. Prove everyone wrong, show that New Orleans is a place that can be both a party city, business city and life city.
im not from NOLA and id hate it if i migrated to NO only to see the Hornets leave. DAMN IT
Fleurdebee Forever
Grayson is on board!
http://swarmandsting.com/2010/12/09/save-our-hornets/
That’s right . . . we are all in this together . . .
What we do here, now and for the next few weeks is who we are as Hornets fans. Wear what he do here and now as a F!@#ing badge! This can be our team in a way that no other city can say. It could be . . .
And after that we HAVE to keep on top of this to make sure this $%^& never crops up again.
😉 Bingo 42, even if this seems like wasted effort it really isn’t because it’s who we are as fans. I know it’s easier to just sit there are wallow with your head firmly rested in your palm but you have to get people around New Orleans to care a little more. Take them to a game, get them to take people to games, anything!
It all seems like rhetoric banter around the place, but we really don’t want to see the team leave. What makes it worse is that there are plenty of folks out there that wouldn’t be to upset if the team was to leave.
We have to get people to care, we have to get people to take pride in their city.
Just a few thoughts.
A Facebook Share button on the home page of SaveOurHornets.com so people can share the link on their Facebook would be great. That way, it would encourage people back to the site.
Another thought, is there anyone who can quickly design some web banners for download that local businesses like myself could put on our websites and link them to SOH? Anything we can do to promote it, we need to start now.
I was thinking about buying a ticket to one of the weekday games. I know they can be as low as $12 or so. But with the cost of parking, concessions, etc, its easy to spend $75-$100. Given that the MOST URGENT thing is ticket sales, not actual attendance, a casual attendee like myself is better off spending the same $100 on eight tickets and giving them away. That way, the ticket sales count goes up eight instead of one. The actual fans in the seats is the ultimate goal, but right now they are counting ticket sales, not attendees.
Also, buying from the ticket office or Ticketmaster is the only way to go. DON’T USE the exchange sites (StubHub, etc.) In most cases those tickets have already been counted.
Hope these help.
All wonderful points.
I wonder if the Hornets would let season ticketholders swap games from later in the season to games in the performance period. It’s a little bit of robbing Peter to pay Paul, but we’d have a year to make up that difference.
I’ll ask tomorrow.
I added a share button, and by tomorrow afternoon I’ll have some a banner/widget ad which you will be able to embed wherever you want.
All tickets we buy will be to games which are expected to have lower attendance, and those which have the lowest per ticket price. We are only buying through the Hornets as to directly increase ticket sales.
Thanks so much for the support everyone. First 6 hours were a big success. Over 350 Likes on Facebook and a good number of early donations. Hopefully tomorrow will be even bigger.
Joe,
Any word yet on a banner ad or some HTML to put on my website? Its Christmas time, so I have above normal traffic right now. This is the time.
the worst thing that can happen to the city is for the hornets to leave we have to support them i encourge fans to show thier support an buy tickets to attend games our team is a playoff contender this year an its a shame of all the empty seats i see when i go to a game or watch it on tv ill spread the word lets make sure our team stays in new orleans starting 12/10/2010 vs the thunder geaux hornets!!!!!!!!!!!
I’d trade my lower bowl tickets for more balcony tickets. If I can be counted twice, it will be worth it
I’ll ask if that’s possible.
Guys, Please read my journal about the hornets tickets if you are looking for a great deal. It is through a Hornets ticket rep so it is easy and is through the team. Thank you!
Dude, just let it go. The Hornets had their time in New Orleans. It didn’t work. time to move on.
If you really believe it’s that fleeting a problem then you are no true basketball fan. The city of New Orleans has been through a lot but the city is still a viable place for a professional basketball team.
Don’t pay any mind to jtshoops. He’s always posting negative comments and doesn’t care about the Hornets or New Orleans.
@QueenBee: Yea he’s from Canada…I mean he must be a bit sour after losing Chris Bosh, a player that could barely make the playoffs on his own, in the East.
We’ve been hanging on since 1718. We just don’t give up. How stubborn is your locale?
Canadian eh?
U MAD?
this is genious. thank u joe. u have given me some form of hope back. i just donated. i posted the site on fb. there is a fb page called keep the hornets in nola. i posted it there hoping to get a strong reaction from the 1000+ ppl who have liked the page.
Nice initiative. You are to be congratulated. Even here in Brazil, I’ll be cheering a lot for everything to go right. I love New Orleans and love the Hornets. I want you all to go well. Congratulations to you.
Sending some support from the northwest, just donated what I could at the moment. Even though I don’t live in the area, the New Orleans community has been, by far, one of the most welcoming and friendly communities I’ve ever been able to spend time in, and I’d hate for the Hornets to leave.
I will say that regardless of how this campaign impacts the hornets future on the grand scale, those involved in taking the initiative to put this program together and doing the outreach to the local youth should be commended. Even if the Hornets end up leaving town down the road, the experience and exposure, will not only be a blast, but likely very inspiring for the kids involved. So thank you everyone involved in organizing and carrying out the campaign.
Joe, thanks so much for the insight. I am committed to joining forces as we all work hard to ‘Save Our Hornets’. As a season ticket holder, I agree, it’s unbelievable the amount of empty seats in the arena, I’m sure we can all agree that our guys deserve so much more than that. I am a true basketball fan who has been fortunate to travel to many other arenas to watch other NBA teams, and having said that, I feel that our fans are amongst the very best in the NBA! Believe me when I tell you, the energy of our fans is unmatched by no other. Joining with the ‘Save Our Hornets Foundation’ would not only give us the opportunity to show the rest of the NBA community how much we appreciate our team, but it would also validate to any prospective buyer, the importance of keeping our guys right here where they belong, in the Crescent City!!! Geaux Hornets!
Great ideas, nice initiative, props to the reactivity, keep fighting !!
Do you ever hear about the milwaukee’s squad 6 ?
http://www.frontofficefans.com/2010/2/21/1320450/props-to-bogut-and-milwaukees
Bogut did it last year, Hibbert did it this year, why not our players ? Specially a guy like Emeka ! He seems to be a smart, nice guy and I think he deserves more cheers from the fans. But from any of our players, it would be nice !
Even if he (or they) buy 10 balcony tickets for one game, it could create a stronger bond with the community and so increase the tickets sales.
whats up guys and gals? i am a faithful reader of the site but this is my first comment. i have been reading on different blog sites and in just about everyone that i have read i have come to this conclusion. David West needs to shut the hell up and just concentrate on playing basketball. The current state of the franchise is really tough on the city right now. many of us really care about the team a lot and the last thing some of us want to hear is some of his grim comments. hey David, can you just concentrate on your job and let management worry about what is going on in the front office.. if you have any questions to what im referring to then just read Marc stein’s article on espn.com “What next for Hornets”. Hoping to see a sold-out Hive, tonight.. Geaux Hornets…..
I think it could be cool if we focused on just one area for one of the games in this stretch. Where we max out one section of the balcony, so we are more visible to the community, and we get rowdy as hell up there with signs and flyers the works. maybe a save our hornets chant, just an idea
Ever see section 331. Those people bring it every game.
I’m still in Austin but doing all I can from over here. Super motivated.
This is great!
Also, don’t forget to vote …
http://www.nba.com/hornets/LA-to-LA.html
Brilliant.
Hey New Orleans….Seattle is gonna take your team!..Who Dat? yea We Dat!
its obvious your a douche and you can’t help that, but could you at least have the decency to go be a douche somewhere else
Bob Johnson?
Hmmmm…. your name’s about as bland as the food in your city. Begone, lowly one!
I think he thinks the Seahawks beat the Saints.
I was there, and in Seattle 3 years ago . . . didn’t happen either time.
And we won our Super Bowl partly because we have a quarterback.
A favor for anyone who feels up to it-
If you’re a regular contributor to Hornets Report, please hound them to either post this or at the very least NOT DELETE LINKS TO IT.
I haven’t posted any links there, since I don’t like to chat with people who have made it quite clear that they hate me. They banned me a long time ago for posting a link as a response to a question on there, so I haven’t been back there until today. A few people emailed me saying that they are deleting links to the foundation, despite having a thread titled “Waht can I do to show my support of the NBa in Nola?”
Um, you can donate to this charity.
I emailed one of the owners (the only one who understands that we are NOT their competition), but haven’t heard back.
I guess it’s just upsetting to know that they care more about pretending we don’t exist than they do the future of the Hornets.
hreport is someone of the biggest turds ive ever had the dissatisfaction of associating with (im banned as well). but i asked some of my friends that i have on the site to post it, hopefully it wont be delted
Without the hornets in NOLA, there will be no hreport or hornets247 so hopefully all pettiness can be place aside and we can come together as civil adults to do all thats possible to secure our team here for years to come.
Wait . . . you guys are adults?
well im sure someone around here is an adult.
I’m sure you are right, but I’m in my 30’s and I’m not an adult yet . . .
Hey guys,
Long time follower of the site, first time poster!
I’m a big hornets fan, from Australia but currently living in London. Have all the games next to me on League Pass when im in bed as they start at midnight over here.
I’ve donated some money, i can’t wait to be able to come over the US and watch the hornets live at the New Orleans Arena.
I’ve never been to a game, and therefore want to be able to have the opportunity.
Hope it helps!!
Geaux Hornets
Welcome to the fold and thanks for the support.
Let us know if you need any advice or tips when you are planning your trip.
Don’t be so shy with the posts in the future . . . it’s free to participate after all . . .
Good cause, the NBA needs to stay in New Orleans, attendance has been small, but look at this website, there are plenty of people that truly care about this team and losing the Hornets would be a shame.
Let me get this straight. U r donating money so some stupid billionaire can keep his failing team in your city. You should actually put that money into good use like feeding the hungry and aleviating poverty. I mean New Orleans has high poverty and crime too. U can also use that money in beautifying the city sand promoting investment opportunities in The Big Easy. Just a few idea on how that money can be better spent.
How can you have a basketball blog, have time to share your opinion, an know absolutely nothing about the NBA?
I’m not even going to waste my time catching you up, troll.
I looked at the blog. It’s a bunch of copy-paste and ads, with enough dancer pictures to more than qualify as protesting too much.
JT: Say some more on this. I’d love to see what passes for `fact’ and `reason’ in your world where things like `investment’ and `job creation’ mean nothing. Please.
And makes its as gammarsy as the last one, puleeese?